This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. But Skippy always stood by me and was a great friend. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps and garden with me. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees and berry bushes, chickens and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

today's harvest

7 Comments:

Your garden looks fantastic! I too, am having an amazing cucumber year. I wonder what it is about this year that is so perfect for them?! Do post updates on your battle against the corn pests as I will be curious how that goes.

Do you have any tips on avoiding the cucumber striped beetles and the vine borers? I am growing cucs for a second time (with little success), and even the zucchinis gave up this year. Do you know of a particular winter squash or pumpkin that eludes these pests?Thank you!

I don't know of anything for squash stem borers. They are really tough to deal with. I used to spray the stems every 10 days with Sevin, but I think this damages a lot of your pollinators and it only slows the borers a little.

The best is to grow your squash in super good growing conditions - heavily composted and rich soil, full sun. This way, vigorous plants will outgrow the borer damage. Rotate the location of squashes every year and don't replant in the same place more than once in 3 years.

I don't have much experience with the cucumber beetles. I get a few and ignore them. I have read that you can use row covers for these, applying before they show up, but I don't understand how the pollinators get in. I think again the idea is to keep the plants so happy they outgrow the damage.

I always have success with the Native American "3-sisters" I plant the corn and surround it with beans then squash. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil for the corn and the corn provides a trellis for the beans while the squash keeps out the critters.